Napa Grease

TractorLarry · Dec 5, 2006

Someone here mentioned they used a high-quality RED multi-purpose Lithium Grease they got at Napa, and that they liked it a lot.

If you are still here, do you have the part number?

The stuff I got at Advanced Auto Parts is worrying me.

My grease gun hangs on the wall, and the oil in the grease is actually separating from the carrier mush and dripping out of the gun down onto the floor!

That can't be good.

Thanks

-Larry

Dave01 · Dec 5, 2006

I've had the same experience with liquid dripping out of a couple of grease guns. It was two different guns and two different types of grease so I figured it wasn't bad grease, just a bad rubber seal on the guns. Not sure if I'm right about this or not.

I've never educated myself on grease. I generally use a lithium grease that we bought in bulk at the factory, not sure of the specs but I can say we've had mower decks with a lot of hours on them and I've never replaced a spindle.

Mike5252 · Dec 5, 2006

I saw that post too. Like you, I've been using this for the last couple months. I think its called like "Red and Tacky" or something like that. I got mine at Advance Auto Parts as well, so probably the same stuff you have. I can get the exact name/part number tonight if you need it, but since we got it at the same store, I would imagine its the same as you already have.

Bob_Bainbridge · Dec 5, 2006

My grease gun hangs on the wall also and has dripped oil for the last 20 years. This has happened with every brand of grease you can name, mostly in hot weather. I keep a shop towel wrapped around the plunger to catch it.

mark1 · Dec 5, 2006

The post about Nappa grease was mine..I'll go out to the garage tomorrow and get the part number off the cartridge.(dark and cold out now)
I do get some dripping too. have always got some drips from whatever grease I ever used in the last 45 years.I always hang my grease gun on a nail with the end in an old soup can to catch the drips.. Mostly in real hot weather tho.

Egon · Dec 5, 2006

Just remember NAPA does not have it's own refinery!

Chances are there are many different branded grease cartridges out there containing identical grease.

TractorLarry · Dec 6, 2006

The grease I now have that I got from Advanced Auto Parts is in a red (I think) tube and is brown in color.

It's fairly generic looking, but I do remember the company is in the US.

They have large tubes and the smaller 3oz for mini-guns.

I've never seen the oil separate from carrier mush and leak out on the floor before. I also noticed on one tube there was a 1/2 oz of liquid oil on top of the mush when I pulled the cap off.

-Larry

Mike5252 said:
I saw that post too. Like you, I've been using this for the last couple months. I think its called like "Red and Tacky" or something like that. I got mine at Advance Auto Parts as well, so probably the same stuff you have. I can get the exact name/part number tonight if you need it, but since we got it at the same store, I would imagine its the same as you already have.

TractorLarry · Dec 6, 2006

Maybe it's normal then... I think I still want to change to a brand-name instead of this generic stuff.

-Larry

Bob_Bainbridge said:
My grease gun hangs on the wall also and has dripped oil for the last 20 years. This has happened with every brand of grease you can name, mostly in hot weather. I keep a shop towel wrapped around the plunger to catch it.

TractorLarry · Dec 6, 2006

Excellent. Thanks!

-Larry

mark1 said:
The post about Nappa grease was mine..I'll go out to the garage tomorrow and get the part number off the cartridge.(dark and cold out now)
I do get some dripping too. have always got some drips from whatever grease I ever used in the last 45 years.I always hang my grease gun on a nail with the end in an old soup can to catch the drips.. Mostly in real hot weather tho.

mark1 · Dec 6, 2006

Ok the Redish stuff I get at Napa is" Valvoline Multi purpose NLGI#2 Lithium"
Part number 615 (maybe Part number VLV615) I get it in the cartridge that fits regular grease guns. I been happy with it, I tell the kids it's "raspberry paste for their toast in the morning.

TractorLarry · Dec 6, 2006

I think Advanced has this too. Cool. Thanks!

-Larry

mark1 said:
Ok the Redish stuff I get at Napa is" Valvoline Multi purpose NLGI#2 Lithium"
Part number 615 (maybe Part number VLV615) I get it in the cartridge that fits regular grease guns. I been happy with it, I tell the kids it's "raspberry paste for their toast in the morning.

JTKub · Dec 6, 2006

I think the napa stuff is similar to Red Crown (I think that's what it's called). That is AWESOME stuff for driveshaft slip-yolks and the likes. Very sticky and long lasting. I had no idea it was a lithium grease. I'm with Bob though. I've never seen grease not drip oil. That's all grease is, is oil suspended in thick 'soap' like material. You'll always have some leakage is the seal is not air/water tight.

Joel

DieselPower · Dec 6, 2006

Not all greases drip oil. Some are more prone to do it than others though. What you should look for is a grease with a oil seperation (ASTM D-1742 standard) of 0.0% on it's spec sheet. The grease I use never seperates. I have one 55 gallon drum of grease that I have been using for a couple of years at home and when I pull the pump head off the drum there is still no seperation. Paragon 3000 grease.

Dave01 · Dec 6, 2006

Wow, I'm not sure I've ever run into anybody who has a 55 gallon drum of grease at home, it would take me 4 lifetimes to go through that!

DieselPower · Dec 7, 2006

I have 275 gallon RCB's at the shop, 1/2 drums on my mobile service trucks and a single full drum at home. I do alot of work on trucks at the house in my off time (guess it's not off time then is it

). The drum at home usually last me about 5 years. At the shop I use about two 275 gallon RCB's a year and my 2 service trucks use about three 1/2 drums each a year.

mark1 · Dec 7, 2006

Yeh I looked into that Paragon 3000 grease a while back..It sounded like a great grease but us little guys cannot purchase it! unless we wanted to purchase a case of 50 tubes at $6.50 each.

TractorLarry · Dec 7, 2006

Wow. Now that's a darned fine grease

Does it come in tubes? I'll have to fire up Google.

Thanks!

-Larry

DieselPower said:
Not all greases drip oil. Some are more prone to do it than others though. What you should look for is a grease with a oil seperation (ASTM D-1742 standard) of 0.0% on it's spec sheet. The grease I use never seperates. I have one 55 gallon drum of grease that I have been using for a couple of years at home and when I pull the pump head off the drum there is still no seperation. Paragon 3000 grease.

DieselPower · Dec 7, 2006

Actually the cheapest way to buy it is by the 45 pound bucket (6 gallons). The current price is $356 for 50 tubes while the cost for a 45 pound bucket is $235.80. 50 tubes of 14.5 ounce grease (the normal volume in a tube of grease) works out almost exactly to a 45 pound bucket. What you then do is buy a bulk fill pump with bulk loader nipple and refill your grease gun out of the bucket. As a added bonus you never have to do the messy job of changing out grease tubes in your grease gun. You just put the loader nipple in the socket on the bulk fill pump, pump it about 10 times and your gun is full. Buying grease by the tube is the most expensive way to buy grease.

TractorLarry · Dec 8, 2006

We ever do group buys around here? Maybe we could do the 50 pack thing...

-Larry

cp1969 · Dec 9, 2006

Grease is really nothing but oil with a thick carrier to keep it from running off. The oil is what lubricates. The carrier just tries to keep it in one spot.

I've never had a grease gun that didn't leak. That's why I keep them in a 20mm ammo can.